X-Men: A Spark from the Ashes
by HGM67
Summary: A once-great West Coast city, a symbol for freedom of expression, now lies broken. In the aftermath of the Inter-species War, after the Coming of the Phoenix, anti-mutant laws are enforced more than ever with the passage of the Purity Act. The X-Men, once great protectors of both man- and mutant-kind, are no more. In the year 2056, will anyone stand in their place? An OC future!fic
1. Arc I: One

_**Disclaimer: I do not own X-Men: Evolution or any related characters or concepts. **_

* * *

**Arc I:  
The Breakout**

**I**

The wind rushed through the salty sea air, blowing a soft breeze along the figure's quickly dashing body. The strangely-shaped figure was running on all fours, literally scampering along the street so quickly that if you weren't paying attention, you might miss it completely.

The darkened street was filled with shadows, and the dashing creature was very thankful for the shadows, for they easily masked his presence on his weekly runs. The little beach town would never know the difference.

He had dared to leave a bit earlier than normal tonight, wanting to enjoy a few hours of nature's warm embrace before he had to return to the attic, where he had been hidden for almost half a year now. He had only just managed to get up the courage to leave the house on a weekly basis, in the darkest hours of the night where he was sure no one would notice. Nothing ever happened this far up the coast anyway.

Moments like this were the moments he could truly enjoy, when he was able to smell the sea air and feel the soft caress of the sticky atmosphere along his no-longer-hidden bushy tail. He did not have to watch what he was doing every single step or breath he took; he could simply run through the streets like an animal, as he was meant to do.

For three or four hours, he alternated his pace to conserve energy. He was so very fast, but if he were not careful, he would crash and burn, and who knew what would happen to him by morning if were unable to get back inside the safety of his home?

That made him think about his appearance, his freakish appearance that usually only made people laugh. Animal fur in weird places, freakish claws, too-large teeth, a big bushy tail... He had seen mutants that were cursed with a lot more physical deformity than even his own squirrel-like genome could create, and it was scary to think of what they had to deal with. He was glad that his parents did not mind what he looked like, and he was lucky that he had not been abandoned or otherwise.

Even if his parents loved him, did he love himself? He always tried to make people laugh, but did he get the same from anyone else? Did people care if such a freaky-looking mutant was happy or sad or angry? For some reason, he doubted it.

He had taken an hour or two more than usual from the night, and if he did not get back soon, people would start waking up for their work-day, and how long would it be until someone saw him?

Suddenly, a siren sounded behind him. Lights flooded his view as he was suddenly in the path of many vehicles, all of which were flashing red and white and blue. They were fast approaching, and he barely had time to react.

The mutant freaked and immediately turned to the right, causing both groups of vehicles to meet in the middle and try to follow him from the side street onto the main street of the little town. It was enough congestion that he knew he'd have a little bit more time, but it wouldn't slow them down for long.

He cursed under his breath and kept running, speeding on all fours down the pavement. The commotion would no doubt wake up the town, but he didn't care.

He tried to look ahead for anything that could help him, but the movement of the squad cars and MRD vans behind him caught his attention. They were gaining on him now, despite his enhanced speed and agility.

_There._ He saw something that could help, and he scurried toward the tire shop. He latched onto one of the poles with both of his claws, and then bit down onto the wooden support beam. He frantically chewed, his incredibly hard, sharp-edged teeth able to drill through wood nearly as fast as bread. He hoped it would work.

He had only a few more seconds, and as he finally chewed through the last bite, he kicked at the pole and the entire tire display came tumbling down, just like something from an ancient video game.

The section of twenty-or-so tires hit the street and smashed into the first car of the pursuers, startling the driver enough that he tried to swerve and took out his own car and another.

The mutant grabbed onto the brick wall with both of his sharp claws, using his tail for balance. He scurried up the wall with such ease that it probably seemed easier than walking. He managed to get to the top of the third story building, hoping the height would help.

"Daniel Barnes," a voice suddenly said through a distorted loudspeaker, breaking him from his reverie. He heard the astute clicking of many weapons and could smell the gunpowder, even from this high up.

Why did he get himself into this situation? He should never have left, never have stepped outside of the house.

"There is a warrant for your arrest," shouted the same voice. "You are in violation with the Purity Act and are subject to incarceration without trial. If you come down from there now, no harm will come to you."

Danny took a deep, long breath before answering. "Well, you see, officers, I don't want to come down. In fact, I rather like it up here." He took a few steps forward and was able to see the MRD and local police surrounding the front of the building. He was certain that if he turned around, he would see more of them on the other side of the tire shop as well.

The man holding the intercom device was clearly the one in charge, as he was not in a regular uniform like the rest of the probably twelve officers in front of him, and no telling how many in the back. The leader of these troops was standing with clear authority, his dark green decorated suit screaming that he was a high rank in the MRD. His face was twisted in a permanent scowl, as though he were completely disgusted by the very idea he was trying to capture a mutant.

_It is his damn pay check, isn't it? He should be glad to capture me, _Danny thought, curious about why someone like him would hate his job that much. Or maybe he was just a lot more disgusting than the other mutants he has worked to capture before.

The officer laughed. "Trying to be cute, you piece of scum, won't get you anywhere. Get down, or we'll use force."

Danny considered his options for quite a few moments, wondering and surveying. All of the officers were standing outside of their vehicles now, and it would take them a while to get moving again. He turned to his left, eyeing a small little seaside shop on a side street. There were several more shops in succession after that, and then the cliffs.

_The cliffs._

Danny smiled, a plan in motion. "All right, I'll come down. But I think that I'll have to do it my way."

The soldiers were confused for a long moment, and he just grinned.

The squirrel-like mutant turned and took off across the roof in a four-legged run. He could hear the soldiers scramble to follow, but they weren't fast enough. He dashed off of the edge at full speed, leaping like there was no tomorrow. His tail stuck straight out, a wonderful tool to balance him in the air.

The seaside air proved to be perfect that night, only by some miracle. The air was not against his current, so it wasn't hurting his leap.

He was only in the air briefly, and he tried hard to extend it as far as possible. The edge of the target roof was only a few more feet away, and Danny tried to aim toward it in the best way he could. The squirrel-like mutant felt himself fall a bit more, just as he caught his claws on the side of the building. He climbed up, just as he heard the first gunshot.

His eyes widened and he went on all fours immediately, glad that he had not been hit. Ignoring the continued fire, he rushed toward the edge and jumped again, from building to building. He never stopped running, pushing with all four limbs, until he finally hit the last store. Three gunshots later, he leaped again, landing only ten yards before the edge of the cliff.

The vehicles were now tuned directly on him, stopping only feet from him. He did not stop very long to catch his breath and realized that he would be surrounded very fast if he didn't do something quickly. The cliffs were stretched before him, and he did not even have a moment of hesitation.

He turned to the rocky edge, found hand-holds, and began to scurry down the cliff, his balance perfect due to the work of the over-sized tail. Part of him was scared because he had never done something like this before, and he forced himself not to look down and just pray to the Almighty that he'd be all right.

He could hear them shouting, shouting for something. He ignored them and hoped he could make it to the water below, because if he managed to pass the waves, he was thinking that he could just disappear. Or at least, more easily.

Suddenly, there was a flash of light and an odd noise. He felt something tug at his tail gently for one second, and then more forcefully the next. The feeling extended to his legs, and despite how hard he frantically tried to hold on, something had a hold of him. And it was not about to let go.

His front claws were wrenched from the cliff-side, only a few yards away from the waves below. He twisted and tried to struggle, but there was nothing to struggle against. Whatever was holding him seemed to be something invisible in the air.

Danny's eyes traveled upward and he saw it there, the silver vehicle with red and black accents. From this angle, it almost looked like a circular U.F.O. with wings and jet engines.

He had heard about these hover-jets, designed with more versatility than even those old helicopters. He had seen a news special about something called a tractor beam, and he was certain that this hover-jet had him trapped in one.

The hover-jet was nearly entirely silent, even to his somewhat enhanced hearing. The large silver winged object was now hovering over the water, over him, keeping him stationary in the air, just over the ground level so the MRD officers could see him.

The officer in charge leave his patrol car, and it seemed every MRD goon pointed their weapons on him. "Well, this is not exactly what I had in mind on this fine Tuesday morn," Danny quipped, smiling. "Could you maybe let me down? I'll be your best friend!"

He realized that he had nowhere to go, but he still wanted to get out of this. He just... no longer could. He was trying to stay strong, trying to stay brave. But his front was fading fast.

He silently prayed to God for a miracle, for a sign that he would be okay.

"I'll let you down. When you get to Mammoth Mountain Maximum Security, you'll be sitting in a cell for probably the rest of your sorry life," the officer said. "Maybe you'll be one of the lucky ones who dies from those diseases you mutants spread."

Danny gulped, and the officer raised his weapon. He flicked a switch on the side of the barrel and then pulled the trigger without remorse.

A tiny blast of the weapon sent a painful shock through his system in a fraction of a second, and his mind immediately went blank and lost consciousness.

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**Hope you liked it! Next one will be significantly longer, but I'll be switching from like three-different POV angles in **_**Arc I**_**, which will probably be around 8-10 chapters. Depends on how far I space the events out. You'll see how it all works in due time. I would have included the next chapter in this one, as like a really long chapter, but I'm going to be very busy from here until the middle of next week, so you'll have to bear with me. **

**Let me know in a review what you thought! A shout-out to MysteryAgain for creating Danny Barnes!**


	2. Arc I: Two

_**Disclaimer: I don't own X-Men: Evolution or any related characters or properties. **_

* * *

_**Arc I:  
The Breakout**_

**II**

A dented can of beets. A half-empty bag of roasted peanuts. And an unopened canister of Nutella.

Practically a feast.

She would do just about anything for a Reese cup or a bag of fresh microwave popcorn. Hell, a cold drink of Coca-cola would do. It had been far too long.

She looked at her nearly gaunt fingers, the way the skin almost stretched in all the wrong places. If she wanted, she could pinch and pull the skin away from the ring finger on her right hand, and see just how thin she was.

Of course, she would really only have to look in the mirror to know how much her diet had changed from living relatively well and eating at a regular pace, to barely scraping by on whatever she could find.

It had gotten better when she found the boy who was most likely a couple of blocks away, looking for food for both of them and using his powers to do it.

She had always looked down on mutants, had never really been exposed to them growing up. "Just stay away from them, Jintara," her father would say. "They're disgusting creatures who deserve no pity. Let them suffer their fate." That had been all she ever really knew about these "subhuman" beings.

Of course, that had been before things had changed for her, before her life had started to unravel. Before she had discovered that she had her own active X-Gene, which had caused her to lose her place in the ring and any chance at getting it back. The Purity Act of 2055 had suddenly become entirely relevant to her own life.

She had not wanted to hide, had not wanted to flee from anyone or anything. Her dying father luckily never had to see her decision, and in her grief, she fled from her home and went into hiding. She had been forced to leave to the streets of San Diego.

The girl remembered going through a period of her life where she had completely hated herself, and there had been many times when she thought about just ending it all. The struggle with being a mutant who hated mutants had been too much to bear, and she simply could not handle her _dukkha_, her suffering, anymore.

Her powers could not directly help her in the strictest sense of the word, but when she met Micah, she sometimes wished they could swap abilities, even with all of his drawbacks. Micah's ability to somehow mentally communicate with pretty much anything around him was practical, and there were times when she wished that she could lose her memories like he does. She thought that it might be therapeutic, especially considering.

Micah could get food whenever he wanted, simply by gathering animals to him that he could then butcher for food. He could influence the growth of plants, even catalyze it somehow so that he could grow more fruit or vegetables or edible leaves or spices. With Micah's presence, she seemed to soften up on her feelings about being a mutant because she could see the direct benefits of having powers.

All she could do was block direct physical damage, in the lamest way possible. It didn't help her on a day-to-day basis, like Micah's could.

That made her think back to her first few weeks alone on the streets of San Diego. Most of California was monitored closely, but even more so on the southern half of the state, near the ruins of San Francisco, where she and Micah were. She had been struggling constantly to find food and bribe people and clever places to sleep, especially if a storm ever came through.

She struggled more back then, but that was simply because of experience. She had never encountered any mutants face to face before, but a little girl named Hope, probably only nine or ten years old, had been cursed with a pair of legs shaped like an insect's. That girl hadn't stood a chance.

Jintara had begun to share food with the little girl, even shared a sort of distanced company with her. If anything happened to Hope, she had not wanted to be caught in the crossfire.

But one day, their luck had run out, and the two mutants had been discovered by a small patrol squad of policemen. The policemen radioe-

"Jin, did you find anything?"

The voice broke her from her reverie, and Jintara looked up to see Micah, approaching with a small duffle bag in hand. She eyed the skinny boy and noticed the pained expression on his face, and she knew he was suffering from another migraine. She eyed her watch, realizing that it was nearly time. Only minutes away.

"Um, nothing much. Some nonperishables," she muttered, standing up and hastily stashing the rest of the items into her bag. "And some Nutella that might be close to expiring." She eyed him again, watching him closely as the boy's eyes seemed to grow dimmer.

"Micah, you're about to black out."

His eyes widened, looking at his own watch and realizing she was right. He gulped. "Not again... Maybe this time, it'll be different?"

She shook her head. "Better safe than sorry. Let's head back, get you lied down somewhere safe. Try to drown out the noise until we get there, and maybe it'll buy you a few seconds."

He nodded, clutching his bag as the two of them began the short trek up the hilly streets of San Francisco, the Golden Gate Spire visible just in the distance. The sun was starting to lower toward the horizon, a strange picture of red and orange forming in the clouds.

Jin tried to urge the brunette boy along, silently wishing him well. It happened every six days, at exactly the same time of day with little variation. She wondered why this was so exact, why this was so methodical, but not even Micah could explain that. Usually, they planned their day accordingly, but for whatever reason, Jintara had absent-mindedly forgotten that crucial bit of information, and she hated herself for it.

The place they had been allowed was a tiny shack, at most. It was entirely run-down and near the epicenter of the city's barren areas, which was probably why it had been empty. She could see it ahead of them, but the time was winding down and they had almost two minutes until he lost it. There were at least two more hills before they reached the city block where it was located, and she cursed under her breath.

"Come here," she muttered, gesturing for the boy to follow. The mutant turned, rubbing the side of his head as his headaches intensified. Jintara led them both into an alleyway, obscured from sight behind a dumpster. "Not exactly the most elegant place, but it will have to do."

Micah looked at her confused. Despite having done this exact same thing nearly every time, she always had to explain it to him again and again and again. His memory loss was that severe.

"Lie down here and I'll cover you with one of our spare blankets. Last time we didn't make it back in time, I had to nurse an open head wound." She gestured to the spot on his head, where there was a knot from where he had fainted from the pain, collapsed and banged his head against a brick wall. He felt the spot and grimaced, wishing that he could remember those little things.

"All right," he muttered, lying down as he tried to dull the pain within his head, screeching and searing against his skull. He rubbed at his temples and lurched forward, gasping and coughing involuntarily.

It was starting, Jintara realized once more.

The boy's body went limp, his brain completely unconscious and his body still. His eyes were wide open, but there was no activity behind them. Jin frowned at the idea of someone losing their memory like this, but she knew she wished that she could do the same.

She gently covered him with a blanket and waited. Her mind wandered to the many times before when she had witnessed this same process happen again and again. She would never understand how this all worked, but she promised that she would protect him and do whatever she could to ensure that he remained okay.

The girl turned to his bag, lying close to his hands. She pulled it toward her and then sifted through it, a goal in mind. She pulled one of the three notebooks from the bag and flipped through it, where she found entire weeks' worth of journal entries. At least he wouldn't forget completely, but she still couldn't believe that someone would have to live through this.

These journals were his only lifeline to his past. Thankfully, he still remembered things like his family from back home, but he couldn't keep anything in short-term memory for very long. So the day to day questions like, "What's next? Who are you? Where am I?" were more easily answered with the journals. She couldn't comprehend how unsettling it must be.

After a few minutes of trying to meditate but failing, she put the journal away, put the bag around her shoulder, and stood, waiting on the boy to suddenly rise and genuinely freak out.

His fingers twitched. His fists clenched. And suddenly, his body bolted up and he screamed, grabbing at his temples. "The voices! Make them stop!"

She frowned as he tried to recover. It was not fun to watch him like this, not fun at all.

After another minute or two, he stopped shouted and turned to her, confused and scared. She frowned again and offered her hand to him.

"I'm Jintara, but you've always called me Jin," she said amicably, with a smile on her face. "I know you're lost right now, but we need to get back." She pointed to the duffle around her arm. "Inside this bag are three notebooks that you wrote yourself, explaining your memories and what you've been doing over the past few months. You can read them when you get there."

He took her hand and she yanked him up, but the boy was still more than a little bit scared, guarded. His disheveled brown hair and deep brown eyes gave him a look of innocence, and she wished that she could look in the mirror and see that same look in her own face.

"Come on," she said, smiling. "Try not to ask too many questions until we get there, and these notebooks will be yours."

She wanted to just give him the bag. She wanted him to understand as much as the next guy, but two or three "data wipes" ago, the boy skimmed through the notes and nearly left her. She couldn't have that, she wouldn't be able to survive without his powers.

It was selfish and misguided, but she needed him.

Like she thought, the boy followed her up the last two hills and up to the shambled house. The entire top floor had the windows blown out and it always smelled like burnt tar, but she had to deal with it.

"This is... nice," he tried to say, curious and bad at lying. "Is this yours?"

"Ours."

"I live here too?" he asked as she unlocked the door and ushered the two of them inside.

"You do for now," said a voice.

Their eyes widened as three intruders walked from around the corner, eyeing the two mutants with intimidation. Jintara knew them, but Micah was totally confused.

"What do you mean, 'for now'? We still have a week to pay up," the girl questioned. "Rent isn't due until the end of the month."

Rent was essentially about a fifth of the resources that they stockpiled from the city and the surrounding area. It didn't matter what the resources were, they had to pay up one fifth of whatever they collected, as well as two gallons of drinking water. For that reason, the Nightmares basically ruled whatever mutants or humans were stupid enough to settle in San Francisco.

"Yeah, well, Delirium wants early collection," the guy in the middle said. She knew him well: a young pyrokinetic mutant that called himself Flint, with blond hair and shockingly blue eyes. She had seen what he could do, and he wasn't scared to do it.

"Since when?" she asked, worried now. Even with one-fifth, they had to have collected a certain amount of weight, and Jintara knew they didn't have enough. Delirium was not a woman to mess with.

"Since now," the girl on the left said, running a dark-skinned hand through her black hair. She called herself Zephyr, and her powers seemed to fluctuate between powerful to totally harmless, almost like PMS. She could generate airblasts at the palm of her hand, and that was a dangerous power sometimes.

The only other Nightmare member was someone who scared her more than anyone she'd ever met, barring probably Delirium. He was easily a few inches over six feet and was thick with muscle, almost to the point of ridiculousness. His face had a calm but threatening look to it, and for good reason. She had seen the behemoth of a mutant tear through an entire house before on a whim. His dark green eyes were terrifying to her, the green eyes of the Nightmare who called himself Titan.

"We'll take what you have for us," Flint began, absently generating a flame in the palm of his hands, which seemed to shock Micah. "Is your haul still in the basement?"

Jintara shared a glance with Micah, who was so bewildered that she was surprised he hadn't run off at the first chance he got. He tried a shrug as a response, totally confused.

"Yeah, but I'm warning you now that it's not enough," Jintara explained early. "The collection has been pretty dry this month."

"Don't worry about it, Jintara. We'll just take all of it," Zephyr said with a false smile. "And probably, you'll have to come with us too."

Her eyes widened, and her hands visibly shook. She wanted to run, wanted to hide. But Micah was still confused, still not knowing what the hell any of this meant or what it was all about. So she decided that she would face her, no matter what that meant.

"We'll go with you," Jintara said, defeated.

"We?" asked Micah, scared. "What do you mean? I don't want to go with them!"

Jin twisted toward him and gave him a sour look, gesturing to the bag. "Shut up," she hissed under her breath. "You don't know what these guys can do."

He still looked like he would argue with her, but Flint's eyes flickered to the bag. The fiery mutant gestured to it and then patted Titan on the bag.

The giant boy walked toward Jintara, but the girl stood her ground. She was terrified, but she knew he couldn't hurt her directly. At least, as far as she knew.

"You're not going to get this bag," she said, surprising herself that her voice sounded solid and strong.

The taller mutant took another two steps forward, and Jintara made sure to remember the pained expression on his face. He reached out and touched the bag, but as he tried to grab it, she suddenly spun and kicked at the mutant's arm, knocking him back. Titan hesitated, giving her an almost pleading look, but She was not about to have this bag stolen. Those notebooks were too important to Micah.

"Are you nuts?!" the boy behind her exclaimed.

Another flame flickered in Flint's hands. He turned to Micah and said, "Hey, you, amnesia kid. Tell your friend to give us the bag, or I'll burn the entire house down. You have three seconds."

Jin closed her eyes for a moment, taking in a deep breath. She turned to look at him, trying to convey to him that the notes were more important than this shack. Despite the memory problems, she knew that Micah was still the same moral person, pre-wipe or post-wipe. He would have tried to save the house instead of the notes, and she tried to let him understand that the house wasn't important.

The boy met her gaze. "Let him have the bag, Jin. We'll go with them or whatever else we need to do, and then we'll come back here and I'll start a new journal." He gave her a smile, but she wanted to scream at him for choosing the wrong damn thing.

She considered her options. She could run away and probably escape the clutches of the Nightmares, but that would get Micah killed. She could try to fight them off and probably get burned to a crisp, but that would get Micah killed. She could tell Micah to run, fight them off herself to buy him time, but with his memory problems, that would probably get him killed.

"Fine," she said, begrudgingly giving Titan the bag. She let her head droop, feeling crest-fallen. Titan handed the bag to Flint.

"Let's see what's so interesting about this bag," the pyrokinetic said. He unzipped the blue duffle bag and curiously picked up one of the notebooks. Flint's eyes widened. "So this is how you remember then, huh, amnesia kid?"

The boy snapped his fingers, a spark of orange and yellow fire instantly setting the papers ablaze. Micah's jaw dropped, sadness and anger flooding through him. Jin gasped and had to force herself to hold back as the mutant threw the flaming notebook on the ground. Zephyr snickered a little bit, and Titan's face had a flicker of remorse.

"Let's see, two more, huh?" he wondered for a moment, before coming up with an idea. "All right, we're going to take you to Delirium, and you're not going to bitch or fight. If you do, I'll burn the rest of the notebooks and you'll never remember anything. Don't even think about running away, because you know what happens when people flee from Delirium."

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**_And that's a wrap for now! I hope you enjoyed it, and if you did, please leave me a review! I love to know what you guys think, and if you think I'm doing something wrong or something right, I really want to know! That way I can improve and grow us a writer. _**


	3. Arc I: Three

_**Disclaimer: I don't own X-Men: Evolution or any related characters or properties. **_

* * *

_**Arc I: The Breakout**_

_**III**_

The smooth pebble felt cool in the palm of his hand. He ran it through his fingers, going back and forth, turning it around and around. He memorized every surface, took in several deep breaths, and tried not to let anything get to him.

He must have been quiet and still for too long, because a quick, sharp bolt of pain suddenly shot through his body, beginning at the neck and running from head to toe. He forced himself not to cry out, but his whole body visibly cringed and his eyes watered from the effort. The brief smell of burning flesh flooded his nostrils, and he had to fight not to puke.

_Get back to work!_ a voice shouted, emanating from the collar implanted on his neck. He hated that feeling of his mind being invaded by the collar's commands.

Breathing heavily and his weak body now covered with sweat, he dropped the pebble and turned to the mound of solid rock before him. The collar gave a slight buzzing, vibrating feeling that basically was his signal.

He raised a hand, twisted his fingers back and forth, and called on the source of his powers deep within his mind. Instantly, the boulder shuddered and split unevenly in half. He made another light gesture, and the top half of the boulder shifted through the air to the cavern floor. He had to even out his breath before he was going to move onto the next step, his powers too limited.

Another buzz from his collar let him know he had the damn hard part to do now. He eyed both segments and easily picked through the rocks, trying to find all of the faintly "precious" bits with his fingertips. It wasn't a tough rock by any means, but it was heavy and impossible to break apart without his full abilities. He could faintly, and without the collar's interruption, use his geokinesis to mold the rock with his fingers, but if he wanted to do anything else, he would have to be cleared by the damned collar first.

For the next few minutes, he let his mind wander while his fingers did the work. It was tedious, methodical work, but it was nearly the only thing that kept him from going completely insane.

Especially knowing that his powers would be perfect to escape this damned mine. If the collars were not designed to selectively decide when it was okay to use his abilities, he would have escaped so easily by now. He had seen so many mutants try and so many mutants fail.

That brought his mind to Samuel, his crazy brother who was probably only a hundred yards away in another section of the mine. His brother needed to get his mind back to reality and realize that these guards had probably thought of all this before.

Mammoth Mountain Maximum Security was a death trap. Even before this Purity Act shit, this mine had been an inescapable mutant pit for almost thirty years; now they were just in the legal right to do it. Clay Wilks had been here for almost a year, and he had seen plenty of terrible, inhumane acts against the "impurity" of mutantkind.

He missed home. He missed his family, all of them, together again. He missed his friends, his neighbors. He remembered them all as though it were yesterday, and the thought of never seeing them again drove him crazy. Even so, there were two that he could never come back to, because they were gone forever.

In some ways, he wished that his only living brother could be successful. He wished that Samuel could get them all out of here. But more than any other, he wished that he could get her out.

He turned his head as he was pulling a piece of silver from the boulder, searching for her. When he saw the tall blonde girl with a too-skinny figure, a thin silver collar against her neck and shining in the dim light, he couldn't help but smile.

The girl was using a pickax to dig into the solid bedrock, pulling her fragile arms up and then down again, knocking rhythmically into the stone. Her upper body and thighs seemed to flash with a tiny green glow, her powers enhancing her body's tensile strength. The dim light flickered in-between her shortened breath and the buzzing of her own monitor collar, further eliminating her usefulness. He had not ever seen her use the full extent of her powers, but according to her, she could shoot powerful blasts of green and white energy from her palms.

He watched the girl he had come to care for deeply, perhaps even love, for several short moments. Clay tried to focus on the task at hand, but watching her struggle to lift the pickax, powers or no powers, caused him such distress that he couldn't concentrate.

Another shock spread from the collar, this one lighter than the first. Even so, it still forced him to re-focus on pulling bits of silver ore from the rock with his bare hands. He had to fight through the urge to cry out for help, had to ignore the mental command emanating from the collar. And yet, he couldn't keep his mind off of the girl who had sunk her way into his heart.

She was kind, smart, funny. She had a temper and tended to dwell on the issues at hand, but she could push past them when he was with her. They could not be together most of the time, but when they were eating meals or in the yard, he could enjoy her company. She was popular among most of the mutants, young or old, because she made it her goal to get to know everyone in some form or fashion.

He smiled at the memory of her trying to help a little girl who did not deserve to be here. The little girl had been trying to find her mother, but it was obvious that they had been separated. Alexandra had spent the entire day trying to console her, trying to make the little girl feel all right about being locked up. It was not much of a memory, but it made Clay feel good inside knowing that Alexandra had tried.

After several minutes of just wondering and thinking, there was a tiny vibration coming from the collar, followed by a subsequent series of beeps somewhat similar to a bell. _Shift end approaching. Finish your current task and line up along the western perimeter wall for roll call, _the collar's AI barked into his mind.

He felt compelled to do what it said. He called on his powers once more, lifting the bits of silver and geokinetically moving them into the bag at his side. It wasn't much, but it would have to do. He could imagine that the mine was not exactly "full" of precious metals anymore, so he often wondered why the people who run this prison even bothered.

He found the usual collection pool and dropped the bag into the bin, trying not to make eye-contact with the uniformed, armed guard standing beside it.

He then followed the silver and blue collar's orders, lining up in alphabetical order, near the back of the block formation. The collars buzzed lightly with activity, and all of them knew that they would not be able to access their powers in the slightest bit, so there was no point in resisting. Not when the prison guards were outfitted with the latest Stark repulsor technology, and the rumors of something even bigger stashed away nearby.

He found the general area where he usually stood and realized grimly that he would have to shift over to the right a few feet. One of the other prisoners, a sweet little old lady, had died from a form of cancer only recently, and everyone had to shift a little bit in line. It felt strange to have to take her spot, like they should revere it because the spot was so... routine. But they could not ignore the empty space. The guards were just a bit obsessive-compulsive.

Others had died in this mine, sure. But she had been special, because she had not done anything wrong. Her power was not even dangerous, but the laws allowed them to bypass that now. She had been really sweet and kind, would have never bothered anyone. But now she was gone, an empty spot in the stupid roll call. It made him a little sad and a little scared that he would rot in this place. Her death had been the first one that had bothered him since Jason and Percy, his other two brothers, died in this place only a few months after they all arrived.

Clay scoured the crowd, looking for the usual place where Alexandra was. Almost immediately, he locked eyes with her and the two of them smiled. Clay wanted to go and talk to her, but that would have been a death sentence.

"Not too much longer, and you'll find all the girls you want outside," a voice to his left said. Clay turned to see Samuel, the usual smirk stretched across his face. Samuel's light brown hair was much longer than Clay's but his face was still visible.

Clay shot him a firm look, one that he had given the older kid so many times. He did not want to even be a part of this so-called escape "plan" unless Alexandra was involved, but Sam didn't want to add her to the plot. He felt it was too risky.

"Yeah, yeah, I know how you feel about it," Samuel whispered, his head still pointed straight ahead. "I just want to get out of here. Just me, you, and the open road. I want so desperately to stretch out my wings on our way back home."

He frowned at the thought of Samuel's currently-trapped extraneous "limbs." His brother's large, leathery black wings were locked away from any kind of use, strapped with a harness so tight that he wasn't sure how it could possibly come undone.

"Yeah, me too," Clay whispered back. "But we're going to take her, or no one is going." Samuel just sighed, but didn't comment.

After all the mutants were gathered at the western perimeter wall of this cavern, the guards started to flood into the yard from the large, steel doorway, leading toward the rest of the actual prison complex. They each were carrying the usual devices, a tiny handheld screen that knew more about the prisoners than the prisoners knew about themselves.

Slowly but surely, the guards walked from person to person, presenting the screen before each one and allowing it to scan them, scan the collar, and then take a full body picture. It was a process that took less than two seconds for each person, but he still had no clue why they did it. Couldn't they have just called roll, from a list or something?

When it came to Clay, the guard was done very quickly and just kept moving. He looked up to see Alexandra only a few yards away, her eyes watching the space before them, waiting her turn.

The steel doors opened, the space large enough for an eighteen-wheeler, or maybe even bigger. A large truck entered the courtyard, headed right for the group. The guards finished their rounds fairly quickly and stepped to the front of the line, watching the truck come in and whispering among themselves. It came to a stop in front of the group, and someone stepped out of the passenger side of the cab.

Instantly, everyone tensed, even the guards. They saluted the man who walked before them, a dissatisfied frown on his face. Which was not unusual. "Warden Matthews, Sir," each of them echoed.

The warden was an intimidating man with dirty blond hair, an impressive build, and the countenance of someone who was disgusted by mutants and their ilk. Clay knew that if this collar was not on him right now, a huge boulder would be flying toward the man in less than a second.

"At ease," he murmured, causing the prison guards to relax. The blond man touched his uniform, as though inspecting it for a moment, before clearing his throat. "All right, you pathetic muties, instead of eating today, you're going to bear witness to your newest arrivals. Maybe you'll like them, but I don't think they'll like me very much." He made a gesture, and two soldier-guards opened the doors to the storage section of the van.

Within moments, Clay watched three young mutants exit the van, escorted by two guards each. Their weapons looked polished and terrifying, so not one of them began to struggle. They just looked surprised.

Two of them looked rather normal, but one was a little bit on the "deformed" side; for a mutant, anyway. Fur covered his shoulders and the tops of his arms, ran along his cheek bones and around his chin, and all down his hunched back. He had two large front teeth, a legitimate bushy squirrel tail, and clawed hands and probably feet. It wasn't the most physical mutation he had ever seen, but it _was _a bit goofy looking.

"Just for some context, this is Jamie Worley," Warden Matthews began as he read off of his own handheld screen, pointing to a young girl with red hair. "She's got some minor empathic abilities and a cloaking power. Or at least, she did." One soldier-guard produced the monitor collar from his belt, instantly encircling it around the girl's neck and locking it in place. They all heard the familiar buzz, followed by the girl's whimper. The guard to her left shoved her at the block of prisoners, and only the most daring of the mutants gasped. Clay's teeth clenched together, his fists tightening.

The little girl was then escorted to her place in line, to Samuel's left. She was crying, her hair disheveled and messy from her capture. Samuel risked it and gave her a look of sympathy, which Clay appreciated. The little girl was too upset to try to return any look.

"Next we have Daniel Barnes," the warden read, pointing to the mutant with the physical mutation. Matthews laughed suddenly, prompting a look from the new prisoner. "You mean you're only lame-ass power is that you're part squirrel?"

"Don't knock it 'til you've tried it," Daniel countered without a beat, smiling and flicking his tail slightly. Some in the crowd laughed, and Clay had to fight not to. Samuel could not contain it and joined the others.

"I'd rather kill myself," the warden said rather simply, almost shocking them all. Almost. It wasn't the worst thing that he had ever said, but it was enough that it caught some of the prisoners by surprise. "Put on the collar and restrain his tail."

The guards were able to do so without much of a struggle, and Danny was escorted to his place near the front of the line, because of his last name. The entire time he was being prodded into place, he struggled to stand upright, and Clay wondered if it was because of the tail that was now locked tight against his body.

The warden turned to the last mutant, a man who was probably in his late thirties. The man was freaking out, to say the least. He started to get a little bit fidgety and began to hyperventilate, just out of what seemed like pure fear.

"Nolan Gerald," the warden read off. "It says here that you have an acidic touch."

As soon as he said it, the man twisted and touched the face of the escort on his right, instantly causing severe burns. The guard screamed and let go to grab at his face, giving Nolan enough time to push himself free. The man was breathing heavily and shouting under his breath that they weren't going to take him, not going to keep him here.

Warden Matthews cursed as the man ran right into the middle of the crowd of prisoners, who tried to back away as best as they could. Alexandra was standing near the terrified man, who was now pursued by nightstick-wielding guards. Clay's heart skipped a beat upon seeing the blond girl so close to this guy.

"Now, now, Nolan, do not do anything rash," the warden began, his voice non-caring. "You'll die if you resist."

Alexandra whispered something to the man, but Clay could not hear what it was over the near-silent commotion. The guards approached, brandishing old-fashioned nightsticks instead of their repulsor weapons. Another approached with the collar in hand.

"No!" the man cried out, seemingly to reply to Alexandra.

The first guard was close enough to strike and decided to take a swing at the warden's behest. The next moment seemed to go by in slow-motion, as Alexandra suddenly popped in front of Nolan in one fluid moment.

The nightstick met its mark, shocking everyone. Alexandra hit the ground nearby, her face and jaw already showing signs of bruising and her prone body a sign of unconsciousness. "No!" Clay cried out, as others gasped and screamed.

In that brief moment of shock and surprise, the soldier-guard got the collar onto Nolan's neck. He tried to grab out for the soldier, but his touch no longer held any kind of power. He frowned as the soldier hit him across the chest with the nightstick for good measure.

"No!" Clay suddenly broke from the ranks and tried to run to her, to see if she was all right. But someone grabbed him from behind, familiar arms that belonged to Samuel.

"Not worth it," he muttered. "You'll get into trouble. They'll take her to the care ward, and she'll be just fine. If anything, she did them a solid by giving them a distraction. They're not going to punish her."

It took Clay several moments to actually listen to reason. He nodded slowly to show he understood, but then he leaned in close. "I swear on both Jason and Percy's graves that if you refuse to escape with her again, I'll make your life a living hell from the moment you wake up until the moment you go to bed." Clay was fuming. "For the rest of your life."

Samuel balked at the use of their brothers like that, and he slowly nodded, knowing that Clay was being serious.

A shock suddenly traveled through every member of the crowd, forcing all of them to release their pent-up tension in a scream of pain.

The collar's AI came to life._ Get back to work._

Warden Matthews scoffed as the guard who had been acid-touched and Alexandra were lifted onto the back of the van, seemingly to take them to the medical ward. "I swear, all you disgusting mutants should have died with _her_."

Clay had no clue who the warden was referring to, but he would do everything in his power to find out. He was furious and upset and more than willing to break-out of this wretched crypt than ever before. And Alexandra and Samuel would be coming with him.

* * *

_**How was that!? Let me know what you think in a review! :D I wanted to give you a bit of Danny's point of view, but I decided against it for now. He'll come back into focus next time around (I think)! I hope you enjoyed it, and thank you for all your support! **_


	4. Arc I: Four

_**Disclaimer: I do not own X-Men: Evolution or any related characters or properties. **_

* * *

_**Act I: The Breakout**_

_**IV**_

Her mind was racing. She could feel her doubts, her insecurities, her fears bubbling to the surface. She could not try to meditate, nor could her defensive powers shield her from the tampering of her own emotions. She knew now that she would suffer for this, but if she did not put on a brave face, the damn mutant woman would literally destroy her mind as punishment.

Her only saving grace would be the boy not two meters away from him. But with Flint, Zephyr, and Titan escorting them, Jintara would never get a moment to explain to the boy how he had a block for mental manipulation. They would overhear her explanation if she tried, and Jin's overall trump card would be flawed.

"You two are going to regret not paying up," Flint declared, his face twisted with sick fascination. "I actually feel sorry for you."

"No, you don't," she said bitterly. "What we're about to deal with is bad enough, but why are you lying to us about how you feel? I know you too well for that to work, Flint."

The pyrokinetic mutant laughed. "Perhaps you do. But lying is way too much fun."

Micah was wearing the same look of unhealthy confusion that he always wore for a few hours after a memory wipe. But even so, he could tell more and more about what was happening as time went on. "Your jacket disagrees with you, and your boots absolutely hate you. You shouldn't lie as much around them."

Flint looked at him in pure disbelief. Jintara could only sigh, because this was not an unusual thing for him to say, at least during the few hours where he had to get used to his powers all over again. On anyone else, she would label them as crazy and avoid them. But his powers gave him the strange ability to read the emotions and memories of nonliving objects, creating a sort of "communication" with them. He often said such strange sentences that did not seem to make any sense, but these memories were often very vital to solving his own confused state. Even with the situation that they were dealing with, he was often "influenced" by the objects without even realizing it.

"What's wrong with the kid?" asked Zephyr, genuinely intrigued. Most of the Nightmares knew about Micah's omnipathy, but the African American girl was a more recent addition to Delerium's ranks. She had not been around Micah as much. "You sound like you're just a bit off the deep-end."

"Oh, he is a crazy little bugger," Flint explained with a smile on his face, a hint of an Australian accent bursting through.

"He's not crazy. If anyone is, that'd be you," Jin boldly declared.

Flint rolled his eyes. "Whatever, girl," the man scoffed.

They rounded the corner along the edge of the giant crater, a nigh-bottomless pit that seemed to not lead to anywhere. The center of that very pit had been the site of the human-mutant war's last battle, and it was interesting to any mutant around to see where it took place. Jintara enjoyed feeling a little bit connected to the past, the past where mutants were less hated and hunted down just because of their genetics.

Micah wiped away a tear. "So much pain. Loss. Everything around it... It's almost like I can... feel it."

* * *

_Images erupted across his mind, forcing him to inwardly flinch away from them. _

_Flashes of fire, popping clouds of brimstone and blue demons. Gunfire, screams... Two sides with seemingly uneven numbers, battling it out for survival. He could tap into their blood-lust, feel the memories of the battle sweeping over him. _

_Something flashed in his eyes, and he immediately saw the epicenter of the chaos. A woman was hovering there, a woman with fiery red hair and stunningly green eyes. Everything around her was seemingly moving, debris, air, earth. She had an aura of literal fire surrounding her, and every few seconds, it seemed to shape into a pair of wings made of pure flame, like the phoenix of myth. _

_"All shall know my wrath," the ethereal woman explained through an icy, layered, and unyielding tone. "All shall know my destruction!"_

_A wave of flame and pure force extended from her body, crushing and burning everything in sight. It was so strong that he could even feel it through memory, like some kind of psychic backlash. _

_"Is this it?" asked a voice, as his vision switched to the sight of a shapely woman with brown and white hair. She looked far too calm in this situation. _

_Her partner nodded, his burly body and silver claws covered in blood. His tight leather suit left nothing to the imagination, and Micah had to avert his eyes to focus on the rest of the memory. "Ain't no time like now."_

_"Ah'll take it all, Logan."_

_"I know."_

_"You sure?"_

_"Do it, Rog-" he paused, waiting a tiny moment. "Anna. I'm sorry we didn't use your real name more often. It's... a nice name."_

_She touched his forehead with only another moment of hesitation. The man screamed and something inexpiable happened, but after only a few seconds, the man dropped to the ground. Micah watched the man's skin seem to shrivel and wrinkle, the body already growing cold. _

_The girl screamed as her hands seemingly sprouted bony claws from nowhere. She stared at them once the pain stopped. "I'm sorry, Logan. I'll see this through to the end." _

_Micah watched as she took a deep breath and then spoke into a communicator. "Tell Wanda, Erik... no, everyone to give meh some time." _

_After only a few seconds, a field of blue energy seemed to erupt over the entire battlefield, enveloping even the shimmering woman. Her waves of energy that had been destroying everything within a fifty-meter radius seemed to stop as the blue energy added more and more chaos. _

_A sudden bolt of red energy blasted through the skies. A blast of blue energy that seemed to freeze the very air around it. A blast of heat seemed to cause the ground to shake underneath the woman. Metallic debris started to rise from her control and head straight for her. _

_The woman knew she only had a few seconds. _

_She knew it more than anyone ever could. _

_She sprinted, full-speed, from her hiding place and into the field of blue energy. It didn't seem to have an effect on her, but she didn't bother to ask why. _

_Every energy blast collided against the fiery woman, and every bit of debris. Everyone and everything froze, except for the now clawed woman rushing forward. _

_Immediately after the blasts subsided and produced no effect, she reached the red-headed woman who had caused such destruction. She didn't stop or hesitate, knowing what had to be done. She fought through a barrier, her skin literally burning away from her bone as she tried, and touched the woman's forehead. The burning woman calmed for a slight moment, Anna's skin regenerating slightly from the effort."I'm so sorry, Jean."_

_Her bone-like claws found their mark, cutting right through the woman's chest. _

_Instantly, everything turned white-hot. _

* * *

Jintara watched the boy visibly flinch, an unusual reaction. Nothing like this had ever happened before, but she had an idea that it had to do with the huge crater lined with the debris of ruined buildings and broken vehicles.

"Micah!" she said, turning to him and catching him right before he could fall. The three Nightmare mutants stopped, each with varying expressions from apathy to what could be care. Jin touched the side of his face, hoping that it would help him calm down, but he did not stop his contortions.

"Is he all right?" asked Titan, the first time Jintara had ever heard the giant of a man speak.

She did not look away from Micah's eyes, which were completely glazed over. It was like Micah was not even here. "He must be connecting with the crater somehow. We must have walked near the crater dozens of times before now, but he's never done something like this."

Zephyr was almost as confused as Micah on a weekly basis. "I don't understand how this kid's powers work at all."

"Me neither," Jintara explained, turning to meet Zephyr's glance. "Not really anyway. It's hard to describe." Even if she knew _exactly_ how his powers worked, she would never tell these thugs about it.

"It doesn't matter if she knows or not," Flint explained, pointing to him. "It looks like he's coming to anyway."

Sure enough, Micah flinched away one last moment before coughing to the side, his eyes fluttering back to normal.

"You okay?" she asked.

Micah nodded, his regular confused expression on his face. "Yeah... I think I'll be all right."

"Do you have any idea what happened?" asked Jintara. Micah was about to answer when Flint cleared his throat.

"Doesn't matter what happened. Delirium is waiting." He gestured to another street and beckoned them all to follow, threatening them with his abnormal smile. Jin watched the broken, ruined landscape with a solemn expression as they walked on, at his command.

Before long, they came upon the entrance to the Nightmare hideout. It was a simple alleyway, but the entrance was clearly disguised. There was a large mural along one wall that had once said just the letter _X_, but now the words, "eXterminate them all," were scrawled along the entire mural.

Micah looked at the mural for a moment, and Jin knew he was feeling the forgotten memory of that mural. He frowned and hung his head low, overcome with the emotion. Jin did not have to be omnipathic to feel what that mural represented.

Across from the mural, Titan walked forward and pressed a button on the side of the brick, one arm full of the supplies that Jintara and Micah had been able to collect. Instantly, the dumpster slid away into the wall, revealing a set of dark stairs that were not even partially illuminated.

"In you go," Zephyr said simply.

"We're going in there?" asked Micah, incredulous. Obviously, something else was on his mind, but Jintara knew that he was still connected to everything around him and it was scaring him a bit.

"Of course you are," Flint said, smiling. He brought up the duffle-bag, snapped his fingers, and threatened to burn the bag up completely. "Keep moving."

The five of them headed into the dark tunnel, Titan heading first and Zephyr and Flint holding up the rear. Jintara did not like being in the middle, and she knew Micah did not either. "What is this place?" he asked.

"The hideout of the Nightmares," Flint explained, holding up his burning palm to illuminate the dark stairwell.

The walls were solid white with silver panels for some form of technology running along the railing. It went deep enough that they could only just see the bottom, and at the bottom was a strange circular door with a steel _X_ running across it.

Jin had only been in the Nightmare hideout once before, when the Nightmares had collected her when she migrated into the city. It was here that she first met Delirium, and the sheer memory of that meeting was enough to haunt her forever. Needless to say, when she left that day, she had become under their protection in a home of their choosing. They literally ruled pretty much anyone stupid enough to stay in San Francisco.

She had visited the hideout once before, and she knew enough about it now to know that the X-Men, the fabled mutant rights activists and protectors, had once been in this very hideout, underneath the old Graymalkin Industries. There was a lot of history there, and she knew Micah may have some interesting stories to tell about that later.

They stopped at the bottom of the staircase, Flint's powers the only source of light real light this far down. Zephyr touched the panel to the right, and the center of the X across the circular door lit up.

"Zephyr here, with Flint, Titan, and two clients from the surface, come for punishment." A technological voice confirmed her identity, and there was a loud beep as the door was unlocked.

The circular panels opened slowly, bathing the bottom of the stairs in so much light that it was very nearly blinding. Jintara raised a hand to block her eyes, just as Flint extinguished his flame.

"That will never be something I'll get used to," Zephyr muttered under her breath.

"No kidding," Titan agreed, leaving it at that. He was a man of few words.

The inside of the base should have been filled with complicated machinery and electronics, but it was clear that someone had stripped the place dry of everything but the lights. Jin had no clue where they might have ended up, but she highly doubted the Nightmares would have any use for much of these machines and computers. With everything the MRD had at their disposal, there was no doubt that the feds would track the mutants here, and then the Nightmares would be stuck defending themselves against the entire government. So the Nightmares may have destroyed the computers themselves.

"You don't belong here," Micah began; the objects around him must be filling him with the past. "You thugs should just leave."

Zephyr turned to him, obviously stirred by his statement. "We don't belong here? Really? The most powerful mutant organization in San Francisco should not be stationed in the best, most fortified place in all of the West Coast?"

Flint joined her, laughing maniacally. "We Nightmares are going to spread, spread from the very bowels of the X-Men themselves into something new, something powerful. Something that might just be the savior of mutant kind all across the United States, and even the globe!"

Titan looked visibly upset for a split second, but he changed his expression to something stoic.

"You sound like a Saturday morning cartoon villain, Flint," Jintara countered.

"Villain? You think mutants are the villains here?" asked Zephyr. "I think we all know who the real bad guys are, and all we are doing is biding our time until we can strike against the humans when their backs are turned."

Jintara just nodded, not buying anything they were saying but letting them think that. She studied Zephyr for a moment and realized now that she showed all the signs of one of Delirium's newest "converts." Her overall demeanor and the almost disciple-like belief system was a dead give-away.

Jin wanted no part in any mutant attack on humans. She did not even know if she cared enough about mutants as a whole to want to stand with them. And she knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that she did not want to stand with Delirium or any of her cohorts, because the methods were too awful.

Micah looked like he was going to comment about the morality of humans and mutants, but they were escorted into the main room, a room that looked like it once was a giant underground hangar. It was filled with mismatched furniture and had an overall "run-down" feel to it, but it was well kept for the most part. The back wall, almost one hundred yards away, was covered entirely in rubble, and Jintara knew then that that was where the base met the crater. In the very center of the room was something that was painted with the lines of an arena, and several rocks and boulders were arranged in a certain way.

The room was populated with several mutants, almost two dozen, of various sizes, shapes, and ages. Most of them were older, or younger, and not many of them were in Jintara's age range. Many were simply too old or two physically disabled to do much. More often than not, these mutants were not physically or mentally dangerous; just mutants who needed protection or care. Or they were drafted here by Delirium, who usually did not have anyone ever refuse her.

Suddenly, Jintara's eyes widened as she found the object of her fright. A woman in her late twenties, long red hair and deep green eyes, walked into the large room from an adjacent hallway, seemingly sensing their presence. Even from here, Jintara could see the woman's left eye, a noticeable milky green color. The woman was dressed to fight, with a combat knife readily available at her side and tight black boots. She wore a simple pair of dark denim jeans and a dark jacket that covered everything but her ample bosom.

Delirium.

"What do we have here?" the woman asked in a far too sultry voice. Jintara forced herself to renew any kind of mental "barrier" that she had and was thankful that Micah had his own built in with his powers. But Delirium could never know that.

Flint walked forward, duffle-bag in hand. "You remember Jintara and Micah, don't ya? They did not meet the right amount of collection of resources to pay you, Madam." Titan sat the resources down, effortlessly carrying them without even having to use his powers.

Delirium was so close to Jintara now that she began to breathe more heavily, trying to avoid showing her true fear. Her first encounter with Delirium had not been a pleasant one, and the memories of that scarred her for life.

"I see," the woman said, thinking it over."Why is it that you did not collect the right amount?"

"There a-are only so many s-s-supplies in the city."

Delirium gave Jintara a blank stare. "Why did all of my other clients successfully pay their rent? I cannot afford to keep you if you do not contribute your fair share."

Jintara could not bring up the courage to explain anything else, and Micah was far too bewildered at the moment to try to argue.

"What do you suggest we do, Miss Zephyr?" She gestured to Zephyr.

The African American mutant seemed just as scared of the manipulative woman as Jin was, based on her hesitation and slight stutter. "Punish them, of course. They know better than to not pay up."

Micah shot a glance at Jin, probably wishing that he knew what all this was going to mean. Those memories were locked away in that duffle-bag, on Flint's arm.

"Yes, you're absolutely correct," Delirium commented, grinning a terrifying half-grin. "What to do, though, as punishment?"

"Oh, oh! I have an idea!" Flint said suddenly, a sick smile on his face like a puppy that has been trained too much. "Inside this bag are two notebooks that are filled completely to the brim with Micah's journal entries."

Jintara's eyes widened, her voice actually whimpering. Micah was horrified, thinking that he might have gotten those back after all, if he came to meet Delirium just like Flint had commanded.

"I could burn them up. Or better yet, I could make Jintara do it!"

"That would be a treat to see..." Delirium thought for a long moment, looking to each of her minions. Other mutants had noticed the commotion and were beginning to listen to the punishment proceedings. She caught Titan's eye.

"I know what would be a clever, better idea," the woman said, her face far too bright. Flint's head drooped a little at the fact that he wasn't going to get to burn up the journals. "It's been too long since we had a good fight to entertain us."

Jintara grimaced. _Fight?_

* * *

_**Enjoyed it? Please let me know! I want to know what you think, and I apologize there was not much action here! There will be plenty coming up in the next two chapters, so stay tuned! **_

_**I hope you liked it, and leave a review!**_


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